Trinity Services in New Lenox receives lifesaving donation

Trinity Services in New Lenox recently received an automated external defibrillator from a New-Lenox-based foundation.

The Tommy Schuman Foundation donated the AED in September, according to a news release from Trinity Services announcing the donation.

As a nonprofit corporation, we always want to give back to the community. We asked what local organizations needed AEDs, and we were told about Trinity Services.”

—   Dan Schuman, co-founder of the Tommy Schuman Foundation

Lynn and Dan Schuman founded the Tommy Schuman Foundation after the sudden death of their son, Thomas “Tommy” John Schuman, in 2012.

Tommy Schuman had planned to attend the University of Minnesota. But he died a couple of months before his high school graduation at Lincoln-Way Central High school in New Lenox.

“Tommy was an exceptional student and quite an athlete,” Lynn Schuman said in the news release. “Tommy was captain of the golf and baseball teams and was also involved in hockey. He especially enjoyed working with special needs students in gym class.”

The foundation plans to donate more AED units to Trinity Services in the future, according to its website.

The foundation also supports local CPR and AED training, Trinity Services said.

“As a nonprofit corporation, we always want to give back to the community,” Dan Schuman said in the release. “We asked what local organizations needed AEDs, and we were told about Trinity Services.”

Lynn and Dan Schuman and their foundation also raise awareness for sudden arrhythmia death syndrome through annual fundraisers hosted by Lincoln-Way Central High School’s golf program, Trinity Services said. In addition, the foundation awards three to four scholarships per year to Lincoln-Way High Central School graduating seniors, according to the foundation website.

The Tommy Schuman Foundation donates to the Sudden Death Clinic at the Mayo Clinic, Parent Heart Watch and the SADS Foundation, according to the foundation website.

Thane A. Dykstra, CEO and president of Trinity Services, is thankful to receive the AED.

“[It’s] a blessing to receive this donation, which truly may save someone’s life,” Dykstra said in the release. “We thank Lynn and Dan for thinking of Trinity Services and those we support.”

Trinity Services provides support to people with developmental disabilities and mental illness “so that they may flourish and live full and abundant lives,” according to the organization’s website.

For information, visit www.tommyschumanfoundation.org and www.trinityservices.org,

The importance of AEDs

The American Heart Association AEDS save lives, especially when combined with cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

AEDS are “portable, safe, accurate and easy to use,” since their intended users are the general public, the American Heart Association said.

According to the American Heart Association:

• More than 15% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in a public location.

• Only 10.2% of cardiac arrests in public had a bystander apply an AED.

• 9 in 10 cardiac arrest victims who receive a shock from an AED in the first minute live.

• Bystanders administer CPR about 40% of the time; AEDs are administered less than that.

• The chances of survival during a cardiac emergency decreases by 10% after every minute without CPR.

For information, visit cpr.heart.org.